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Rare Cancers

NEWS RELEASE

Released: July 7, 2020

Defense Health Program
Department of Defense Rare Cancers Research Program
Anticipated Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20)

The FY20 Defense Appropriations Act provides funding to the Department of Defense Rare Cancers Research Program (RCRP) to support for research of exceptional scientific merit in the area of rare cancers research. As directed by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, the Defense Health Agency J9, Research and Development Directorate manages the Defense Health Program (DHP) Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) appropriation. The managing agent for the anticipated Program Announcements/Funding Opportunities is the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC).

The RCRP is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop ideas for submission to the anticipated FY20 funding opportunity. This pre-announcement should not be construed as an obligation by the Government. The FY20 RCRP Program Announcements and General Application Instructions for the following award mechanisms will be posted on the Grants.gov website. Pre-application and application deadlines will be available when the Program Announcements are released. 

Vision Statement
To greatly improve outcomes for people with rare cancer through discovery and community building, and expansion of knowledge across the cancer landscape.

Mission Statement
Elevate rare cancers research to enable clinically impactful discoveries for the benefit of Service members, their families, Veterans, and the American public.

Applications for the Concept Award submitted to the FY20 RCRP must address one or more of the following Focus Areas: 

  • Biology and Etiology: Identify disease-defining molecular pathways, cell context, and microenvironment.
  • Research Model: Develop and validate rare tumor-specific models that can support clinical trial readiness.
  • Platform Development: Development of platforms (such as, tumor tissue repository with clinical annotation; centralized databanks; patient registry with common data structure; research model and Omics database; longitudinal studies of natural history and treatment response), for multiple rare cancers, to allow sharing data, bio-specimens and resources.
  • Therapy: Identify novel therapeutic strategies, including drug repurposing. 

Applications for the Idea Development Award submitted to the FY20 RCRP must address one or more of the following Focus Areas: 

  • Biology and Etiology: Identify disease-defining molecular pathways, cell context, and microenvironment.
  • Research Model: Develop and validate rare tumor-specific models that can support clinical trial readiness.
  • Therapy: Identify novel therapeutic strategies, including drug repurposing. 

Applications for the Resource and Community Development Award submitted to the FY20 RCRP must address the Focus Areas below: 

  • Platform Development: Development of platforms (such as, tumor tissue repository with clinical annotation; centralized databanks; patient registry with common data structure; research model and Omics database; longitudinal studies of natural history and treatment response), for multiple rare cancers, to allow sharing data, bio-specimens and resources.
Award Mechanism Eligibility Key Mechanism Elements Funding
Concept Award Investigators at all academic levels
  • Supports innovative, high-risk/high-reward research that is in the earliest stages of idea development or an untested theory that addresses an important problem related to rare cancers. Proof-of-concept is the anticipated outcome.
  • Submission should address at least one of the FY20 Focus Areas.
  • Reviewers will be blinded to the identity of the Principal Investigator (PI), collaborators, and their organization(s).
  • Preliminary data are not required.
  • Clinical trials are not allowed.
  • Maximum funding of $100,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs).
  • Maximum period of performance is 1 year.
Idea Development Award Independent investigators with a faculty-level appointment
  • Supports innovative, high-risk/high-reward research with the potential to yield impactful data in the rare cancer field.
  • Preliminary data with disease specific rationale are required (correlatives in existing trials).
  • Submission of a Letter of Intent is required prior to full application submission.
  • Submission should address at least one of the FY20 Focus Areas.
  • Clinical trials are not allowed.
  • Maximum funding of $350,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs).
  • Maximum period of performance is 3 years.
Resource and Community Development Award Independent investigators with a faculty-level appointment
  • Emphasis on research resources development to bring together researchers, clinicians, patients, and patient advocates.
  • Supports research development or infrastructure that can be applied to multiple rare cancers.
  • Translational research and clinical studies may be included.
  • Submission should address the Platform Development Focus Area.
  • Preliminary data are not required.
  • Clinical trials are not allowed.
  • Maximum funding of $600,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs). 
  • Maximum period of performance is 3 years.

A Letter of Intent (LOI) is required and must be submitted through the electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal (eBRAP) at https://eBRAP.org prior to the LOI deadline. All applications must conform to the final Program Announcements and General Application Instructions that will be available for electronic downloading from the Grants.gov website. The application package containing the required forms for each award mechanism will also be found on Grants.gov. A listing of all CDMRP and other USAMRDC extramural funding opportunities can be obtained on the Grants.gov website by performing a basic search using CFDA Number 12.420. 

Submission deadlines are not available until the Program Announcements are released. For email notification when Program Announcements are released, subscribe to program-specific news and updates under “Email Subscriptions” on the eBRAP homepage at https://eBRAP.org. For more information about the RCRP or other CDMRP-administered programs, please visit the CDMRP website (https://cdmrp.army.mil).

Point of Contact:

CDMRP Public Affairs
301-619-9783
usarmy.detrick.medcom-cdmrp.mbx.cdmrp-public-affairs@mail.mil


Last updated Thursday, May 26, 2022